Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL), the maker of Cinthol soaps and Hit insecticides, announced that Keyline Brands, its subsidiary in the UK, has acquired women’s deodorant brand, Soft and Gentle, from Colgate-Palmolive Co for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition is being funded through low-cost debt and the impact on GCPL’s consolidated debt equity ratio is 0.03.

Established in 1990 in the UK, Keyline Brands was acquired by GCPL in October 2005. The brand operates in the toiletries, personal care sector and its portfolio includes a number of important niche brands including Cuticura, Aapri, Erasmic and Nulon. (Also read: FMCG sector overview)

Soft and Gentle is the UK’s fourth-largest female deodorant brand (by marketshare) and it reported net sales of Rs 187 crore in 2011.

“The acquisition of Soft & Gentle by Keyline Brands will add profitable scale to our UK business,” said Adi Godrej, chairman, GCPL. “Over the last few years, Keyline Brands has delivered good performance and grown in double digits in a very tough market environment that is witnessing little to no growth.” (Also read: Survey: Hiring to remain active in Q1 2013)

“We expect this acquisition to be accretive in year one,” he added.

“As the number 4 women deodorant brand in the UK (by marketshare), Soft & Gentle enjoys strong latent brand equity,” said Anand Rangaswamy, managing director of Keyline Brands. “We believe we can use the strong latent brand equity combined with updating the fragrance technology, developing further range extensions within the female personal care category and creating an integrated above the line support campaign to engage consumers and drive strong growth for the brand.”